“Exterminate all the Brutes” by Sven Lindqvist had one section in which he described the brutal massacre of the Tasmanians. The colonists came and continually moved in on their land, pushing them out of their native land and treating them as “brute beasts”. As the population of whites continued to grow and push out the native Tasmanians, they were forced to steal and fend for themselves and in return were punished for their attempt at survival.
“We Europeans were modified and improved descendants of the Tasmanians. So according to the logic Darwinian patricide, we were forced to exterminate our parent species. That included all the ‘savage races’ of the world. They were doomed to share the fate of the Tasmanians.”- Lindqvist, 114
This way of thinking could be compared to what happened during the Holocaust, Rwanda, or any genocide. It is the idea that there is a superior race, therefore justifying wiping out a group of people. This does not just happen because it was “destined” to, it was the belief that the natives that were invaded were simply in the way of what the “superior” race wanted, and because the natives were considered “savages”, it was passable to wipe them out completely. Because they lived differently and did not look like Europeans, they were like animals in the colonist’s eyes.
This reminded me of how we had read about barriers between cultures, and how this is a good example of how the unfamiliar instills fear, creates hate and makes us act out of hate. Like we had discussed in class we cannot push the ones who did this to the Tasmanians into a different category, pushing them away from us as if they were so different. What would we have done if we were there and were brought up to believe that this act towards those different than us was acceptable? I am in no way trying to justify what had been done, but it is something to think about. Not being familiar with different cultures and thinking there is a superior race are how the problems started. Although we have moved away from the idea of some groups being “savages”, we still have not completely moved out of the mindset of there being superiority between different cultures and races.
I agree with your statement that the mindset still exists among some people that some cultures/races are more superior than others. The eugenics movement mainly focused on race- superior races should exterminate the more "primitive" races because they would be wiped out by selection anyways. But even before the eugenics movement entire groups of people were murdered because they were different in color, religion, or culture, and because one group felt they were superior to the other. We still see this happening in the world today, even though we know that there is no genetic difference between one race or culture to the next. It's as though people try to create differences between themselves and others in order to justify their selfish actions.
ReplyDeleteMany have blogged about Lindqvist's piece this week, but the way you have brought it into focus really caught my attention. Specifically the question raised, "What would we have done if we were there and were brought up to believe that this act towards those different than us was acceptable?". It's interesting to imagine myself somehow placed in a position where society somehow justifies (and even encourages) horridly wrongful acts. Would all of the perceptions and morals I hold now count for anything if the society I base myself from turned its back on me? It's hard to say, but I like to think that I have some composure. Nice post.
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